Living Life by Design - with Alan and Mark: Road Trip Day 21 - Fort Myers

Day 21 - January 21st - Fort Myers - Key West

After bidding farewell to our wonderful hosts, we headed across to the Florida Turnpike and then turned south towards the Keys. The weather started off with some mild drizzle, and it stayed like that for most of the journey until we headed south. When we got to the beginning of the keys, it ranged from clear blue skies, to being very windy and pelting rain. It was interesting to see how quickly these changes came about.

Key Deer on No Name Key

We checked in to our hotel in Marathon, and then headed for the tip, stopping at Big Pine Key to take a look at the miniature Key Deer – an endangered species that are protected by law. Much to Mark’s delight, we spotted several of them in the populated areas, as well as further out at No Name Key.

One of the proprietors of the Refuge Museum was explaining that – to my surprise – there ARE crocodiles as well as alligators in the area. He told us that at a nearby lake, they are breeding them with the hopes that they will help to reduce the invading Burmese Pythons that are now rampant in the Everglades since Hurricane Andrew destroyed a reptilium and set them free. He also said that many people by pythons, anacondas, and boa constrictors when they are young and small and then have second thoughts when they get too big to handle. At this point, so many people set them free and then they take over the habitat.

He also told us to visit the ‘Blue Hole’, which is a the only fresh-water pool in the area, as an alligator had been spotted there. We took a drive out and were rewarded with a close up shot of the creature. He was still for most of the 10 minutes we were there, except for a slight move of his front leg, which satisfied us that he was, indeed, the real thing!

6 ft long alligator

Continuing on the Overseas Highway, we found the surroundings increasingly interesting.

Couldn't believe the colour of the ocean

Ibis - which proliferate this area

Seven-Mile Bridge

Human ingenuity was the topic of conversation as we marveled at the construction of the Seven Mile Bridge and couldn’t help thinking of the bridge scene in the movie, True Lies. We noticed several breaks in the older (railroad) bridge, which ran parallel to the one we were on.

Old Railroad Bridge

We had been disappointed with Key Largo – which, from our perspective, was a little on the shabby side. However, our disappointment was assuaged (and then some) by Key West, itself. Much bigger than we had realized, we made our way to the end of U.S. Hwy 1, parked the car, and then sought out information for our para-sailing adventure tomorrow – now booked and eagerly anticipated.